FEFO removal

The First Expired, First Out (FEFO) removal strategy targets products for removal based on their assigned removal dates.

Removal date

Products must be removed from inventory before their removal date, which is set as a certain number of days before the product’s expiration date.

The user sets this number of days by navigating to the product form’s Inventory tab. Under the Traceability section, ensure the Tracking field is set to either By Lots or By Unique Serial Number.

Next, select the Expiration Date option, which makes the Removal Date field (and other date fields) appear.

Important

The Lots and Serial Numbers and Expiration Dates features must be enabled in Inventory app ‣ Configuration ‣ Settings to track expiration dates.

The expiration date of a product is determined by adding the date the product was received to the number of days specified in the Expiration Date field of the product form.

The removal date takes this expiration date, and subtracts the number of days specified in the Removal Date field of the product form.

Example

In the Inventory tab of the product, Egg, the following Dates are set by the user:

  • Expiration Date: 30 days after receipt

  • Removal Date: 15 days before expiration date

screenshot: removal-strategies-fefo-user-set-date
menu
Inventory ‣ Products ‣ Lots/Serial Numbers
shows
A lot form with the "Dates" tab open, showing the Expiration Date and Removal Date fields filled in.
highlight
The "Removal Date" field (red frame).
module
product_expiry
notes
English UI, light theme, 1440px width.

A shipment of Eggs arrive at the warehouse on January 1st. So, the expiration date of the Eggs is January 31st (Jan 1st + 30). By extension, the removal date is January 16th (Jan 31 - 15).

To view the expiration dates of items in stock, navigate to the product form, and click the On Hand smart button.

Next, click the additional options icon, located on the far-right, and select the columns: Expiration Date and Removal Date.

screenshot: removal-strategies-fefo-date
menu
Inventory ‣ Products ‣ Products
shows
The inventory adjustment list opened from a product's "On Hand" smart button, with the Expiration Date column shown for each lot.
module
product_expiry
notes
English UI, light theme, 1440px width.

Workflow

Using the FEFO removal strategy ensures that products with the nearest removal date are picked first.

To understand how this removal strategy works, consider the following example below about the product, Carton of eggs, which is a box containing twelve eggs.

The product is tracked By Lots, and the product category’s Force Removal Strategy is set to First Expired, First Out (FEFO).

LOT1

LOT2

LOT3

On-hand stock

5

2

1

Expiration date

April 4

April 10

April 15

Removal date

February 26

March 4

March 9

To see the removal strategy in action, go to the Sales app and create a new quotation.

Clicking Confirm creates a delivery order for today, December 29th, and the lot numbers with the soonest expiration dates are reserved, using the FEFO removal strategy.

To view the detailed pickings, click the ⦙≣ (bulleted list) icon, located on the far-right of the Carton of egg’s product line, in the Operations tab of the delivery order. Doing so opens the Open: Stock move pop-up window.

In the Open: Stock move pop-up window, the Pick from field displays where the quantities to fulfill the Demand are picked from.

Since the order demanded six Cartons of eggs, using the FEFO removal strategy, all five Cartons from LOT1, with the removal date of February 26th, are picked. The remaining Carton is selected from LOT2, which has a removal date of March 4th.

screenshot: removal-strategies-fefo-eggs-picking
menu
Inventory ‣ Delivery Orders
shows
The detailed operations of a delivery order line, with the "Pick From" column showing the lots with the earliest removal dates first.
highlight
The "Pick From" column (red frame).
data
Product "Egg" with three lots of different expiration dates.
module
product_expiry
notes
English UI, light theme, 1440px width.